(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-765Q-9b, PA

Coin Details

Description

John W. Pittock of Pennsylvania issued this token as emergency currency during the Civil War. Pennsylvania was the Union's industrial heartland, with Philadelphia as a manufacturing center and Pittsburgh as an iron and steel producer. The 15 cataloged varieties for John W. Pittock indicate a notable level of token production. The brass composition of this variety (Fuld 765Q-9b) is common to somewhat scarce for this merchant. This undated piece entered commerce during the 1862-1864 period when millions of private tokens replaced vanished federal coinage. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 15 cataloged varieties, John W. Pittock was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 765Q-9b